mountain_monsters_aimsfandomcom-20200214-history
Snallygaster of Preston County
The Snallygaster of Preston County is the tenth episode of Mountain Monsters season two, and the sixteenth episode overall. In Preston county, the A.I.M.S. team hunts an enormous pterodactyl-like creature known as the Snallygaster, which the team discovers is both deadly on land and in the air. Summary Trapper drives the team to Preston County, and informs them they are going after a bizaree creature known as the Snallygaster. The Snallygaster is believed to be 800 pounds, dark green and scaly, possessing 5 inch long talons and a wingspan of 20 feet. It also is known for an ear piercing shriek, which is said to sound like a train whistle. Jeff tells the guys th e Snallygaster was first sighted in the mid 1700's by the German immigrants in the area, and had become so famous, the U.S. president Teddy Roosevelt wanted to hunt it. Later, in the 90's, sightings became more and more common. Interestingly, as Trapper explains, the stars painted on barns throughtout West Virginia are an old German insignia meant to keep the Snallygaster away. Finally, Jeff adds the German immigrants would refer to the creature as a "Schneller Geist", meaning "Quick spirit". Buck then asks Jeff if he knows what the Germans would call him, the answer being "Shnanta Claus", to which everyone laughs. In Preston County, the team meets with a man named "Bub", a trapper. Bub says he has a coyote problem, and one morning, when he was going to check his traps, he heard a loud screech. He then saw over a ridge, an enormous 7 foot tall, winged creature, take a coyote out of a trap. As he ran away in the direction of another trap, the beast took to the air with the coyote in it's grasp, and in one quick movement, swooped down and snatched up the coyote from the second trap, then, dropped it's wings,wen in between two powerline poles, and shot up a hill, out of sight. Bub noticed the creature not only took the coyote, but the trap and stake as well, meaning it would have to have uncanny strength as the stakes are held tight in the ground with a metal plate. Upon Jeff's inquiry, Bub estimates the wingspan was 20 feet long, just as was believed. Trapper, who didn't originally believe the creature to be 800 pounds, is now positive it's true, due to the size of the chest muscles necessary to flap such enormous wings. Unsure of what to expect from the Snallygaster, the quartet prepares for the night investigation. Late at night, a half mile away from Bub's sighting, the team, nervously begins the investigation. Trapper leads the team under cover of the woods, hoping the Snallygaster won't be able to swoop down on them. But even with the trees above them the quartet still feels unsafe, sure that the monster would likely crash through the timber to get at them. Believing the Snallygaster roosts in the timber on the mountains, the team begins searching for any signs of a nest or feeding area. Shortly into the night, a coyote wails in the distance, soon followed by another, which means there are two different packs, leading Buck to believe they're grouping for safety. Minutes later, Huckleberry spots an eye, belonging to one of several coyotes several metres away, which Jeff sees on the thermal camera. However, they are not moving, despite being so close to humans, meaning they are afraid of something even more than the team, and unbelievably, are seeking protection from them. A snap comes from high above, and within seconds, the pack of coyotes take off. The team is about to do the same, when Buck spots something on the ground; a chain and stake. They quckly realize it's the same chain that belonged to Bub, and held a coyote. But since the coyote is no longer attached, they come to the realization that they are standing in the middle of the Snallygaster's feeding area. Knowing the Snallygaster will be back sooner or later, the team wonders what to do next, when they hear a chilling shriek, maybe a hundred yards away. Jeff scrambles to scan the area, when another shriek is heard, this time even closer. The hunters seek cover, and end up hiding beneath some fallen logs. After going a few minutes without hearing any more sounds, the team slowly comes out from beneath their cover, and makes a run for the side by side. Once in the vehicle they drive away quickly, now with a trap location in mind. Next day, Willy meets with Wild Bill, and describes to him his idea for a reverse catapult trap. The trap will be a log running between two trees, with a large box hanging from it, and when the trigger is set off, the box will fall to the ground. Wild Bill borrows some of Willy's papers and a pencil, and draws a sketch of the Snallygaster, making it look like a "Wanted" poster, although he spells "Snallygaster", as "Gallysanaster". Willy simply suggests Bill sticks to his art classes. The pair then gets to work on cutting down enough pine wood to build the box. Meanwhile, the rest of the team meets with a squirell hunter named Ty, who claims to have had an encounter with the Snallygaster. One day about a month ago, he says, he was out squirell hunting with his two dogs, not far from where they are now. His dogs ran over a ridge, and Ty assumed they'd caught a squirell, when a heard them yip, meaning they are in danger. When he got to his dogs, he found one, dead, with a puncture in it's side. After being asked the size of the wound, Ty says he guesses it to have been around the size of his hand. Trapper knows how powerful the talons of birds of prey can be, so he believes this to similar, except even more powerful. Ty takes the team to where he found his dog, saying that even though he's never heard of the Snallygaster before, he knows his dog was killed by something unusual. Looking at the trees above, Trapper notices the limbs would have been broken if the Snallygaster swooped down, but they aren't. This leads him to believe the Snallygaster was on the ground; the dogs came upon him, he killed one, and then left on foot. This is troubling to the guys because it means the Snallygaster can attack from the air and the ground. In addition, Ty says after his dog was killed, he set out trailcams to catch the culprit, and managed to get two pictures, which he shows to the team. After seeing the picture, Trapper believes the creature is bigger than he thought. With two sightings within a half mile of each other, they are now sure of the area the Snallygaster lives in, and know the ideal location of where to put the trap. Later, Wild Bill and Willy search the woods for a place to put the trap, finding signs of something moving on the ground recently. When they find two perfect trees, Bill climbs to the top and hoists the pivot log up in between the two trees. Despite rain, the two manage to set the catapult logs in place. Trapper, Buck, Jeff, and Huckleberry meet with a farmer named Mark, who has had some coyotes attacked, near his farm. Mark supposedly believes there is more than one Snallygaster, and after inviting the team into his barn, tells them why. He says he's been having problems with coyotes, and one night, he was awoken by sounds of coyotes in a fight. Hearing a screech, he went to see what was going on, but when he got to the scene, the coyotes were gone, scared off, although there were tracks. Apparently the creature was fighting the coyotes, but Mark says he doesn't think the Snallygaster was going after the coyotes to eat them, but rather because it was mad at them. Trapper asks him why he thinks so, and he then brings out a cardboard box. He says after searching the scene of the incident, he found something which convinced him the Snallygaster was angry at the coyotes; a huge, shell of an egg. Trapper figures the reason the Snallygaster attacks coyotes, is because they steal it's eggs, but that's the least of their problems now, because an egg would mean there is more than one Snallygaster. With the revelation that there is an unknown number of Snallygasters, Trapper knows the team is terrified of the creature, and is worried if he will be able to get them to go on the mountain at all. After thanking Mark, the team departs, with much to consider. At the trap sight, Willy and Bill have completed the catapault, unfortunately, the are unable to hoist the box into the air. The rest of the team shows up and is impressed by the trap, but since Willy can't lift the box into the air with his truck, they hook the side by side to it to help out. This works for a while, but before the box is fully lifted, the top of the tree snaps. It's getting dark, so they pushthe box up on one side, and turn it into a classic box trap. After testing it out, Willy baits it with some beaver, raccoons, and coyotes, caught by Buck. With everything ready, the team goes to get their guns, and begin the hunt. On the night hunt, Trapper reminds the team to be extremely careful, as the Snallygaster can attack them from the air or the ground, making it one of the most dangerous hunts they've ever been on, to make things worse, they're all still tired from lifting up the box. With that said, Trapper takes Huckleberry and Jeff to search the high ridgeline, while Buck will take Willy and Wild Bill to the low timber, with both teams pushing the monster towards the trap. Finally, Huckleberry reminds the team to stay alert. Soon into the hunt, Buck's team worries over where the Snallygaster could be, concerned it could be sitting in a treen overhead and they would never notice. Suddenly, they hear the brush break, and as they come towards it, they find ground torn up, meaning something's come by. Willy notices tree limbs broken off, when they hear a noise from the darkness, and believe to see several sets of eyes, which then disappear. After informing Trapper by radio, both teams keep moving. Trapper team then stumbles upon something, which, to their surprise, is a very large circular nest on the ground, around 8 feet wide, with a fresh deer leg in it. Realizing they may be in danger, they radio Buck's team to call for backup, when a shriek comes from nearby, prompting the three to make a run to the side by side. Meanwhile, Buck's team hears another shriek, forcing them to stay under the cover of the woods, unable to get to the others. Trapper's team makes it to the side by side and take off, when something crashes on top of the vehicle, but they keep driving. Just as they find Buck's team, they hear another shriek, and the rest of the guys hurry into the side by side. Desperately searching for whatever cover they can find, the team comes across a house, and hurry inside, as more screeches are heard. Inside the house, an old cabin, the team barricades themselves in what might have once been a living room, and each member covers a door or window, while the Snallygasters, appear to be ramming the building, and a terrified little bird flies around in panic. The battering continues for a few minutes and some of the group believes they are done for, but Trapper reassures them they are well armed and have good cover. Suddenly, the attack resumes, and a shelf is knocked over, sending Buck falling to the floor. They point their guns to the door, ready to fire, and Trapper, always the firm leader, tells them to get their backs against the wall and hold their ground. Everything then goes quiet, until the roof begins to break, the creatures are now attacking from above, and the crew uses this as an opportunity to escape the mountain. They make a run out the door and reach the side by side, driving away as fast as possible, followed by more of the shrieks. After a few minutes the pursuit seems to let up, and they make it back to the truck, hapy to be in one piece. It seems the Snallygasters stopped chasing them as the got lower on the mountain. Although they were forced to abandon the hunt, the team agrees they never could have managed to take on all of the monsters, and due to all they've learned, they know they certainly exist. Category:Cryptids Category:Episodes Category:Season 2